Vacancies among consultants more than double official figures, says BMA

The level of vacancies among NHS consultants is more than double the Scottish Government’s official figures, the BMA has claimed.

The doctors’ union says the vacancy rate for whole-time equivalent consultants is at 14.3%, with the Scottish Government recently saying the consultant vacancy rate was 6.2%.

BMA Scotland’s figures are based on responses to freedom of information requests they received from Scotland’s 14 geographical health boards.

The Government’s most recent, quarterly, workforce data listed medical and dental consultant vacancies as 6.2%.

The BMA say this does not account for posts which are temporarily filled by locums, posts that have not yet been advertised, and posts that have remained vacant for so long they are no longer being advertised.

Dr Alan Robertson, chair of the BMA’s Scottish consultants committee, said no improvements have been made in the last year.

He said: “Consultant vacancies across Scotland remain worryingly high – these latest figures are not surprising, but I find myself increasingly frustrated that the Scottish Government is not revealing the true extent of them in the official stats.

“We are in the midst of a consultant recruitment and retention crisis – this year, we have seen increased agency spending on locum doctors, suggesting that finding permanent staff to fill the gaps is proving to be significantly challenging and is cause for huge concern.

“And yet, we keep hearing that NHS staffing levels are at a record high.

“But to repeat this over and over to staff on the ground who are depleted, exhausted and facing burnout is not just demoralising, but incredibly insulting.

“Staff are working flat out, doing absolutely everything they can to cope with rising demand which is spiralling out of control, but I cannot be any clearer when I say that just because there are more people on the payroll than before, does not mean there is enough.”

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said: “This intervention from the BMA shows the scale of the crisis facing Scotland’s NHS.

“It’s all too clear that the SNP has failed to attract and retain vital consultant staff and that the ramifications for the NHS are dire.

“Thousands of Scots are stuck on waiting lists while this Government fails to end the staff exodus from our NHS.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “NHS Scotland staffing is at historically high levels with medical and dental consultants up by 65.9% since 2006.

“We are determined to increase the NHS workforce even further, with our Recovery Plan backed by more than £1 billion.”